Picture Archiving and Communication Systems Revitalises Medical Image Management
Medical image management is one of the hottest areas in the medical device market. With growth rates exceeding 35 percent in some European countries, the market environment is experiencing a high degree of dynamism and competition, reveals new analysis from Frost & Sullivan.
(PRWEB) January 23, 2002
Medical image management is one of the hottest areas in the medical device market. With growth rates exceeding 35 percent in some European countries, the market environment is experiencing a high degree of dynamism and competition, reveals new analysis from Frost & Sullivan.
The healthcare analysts (http://medicaldevices. frost. com (http://medicaldevices. frost. com)) valued the European Medical Image Management market at $244.5 million in 2000. This is anticipated to rise to $704.5 million by 2004.
“Growth is expected to be rather strong over the forecast period as a result of the considerable efficiency gains and the trend towards digitalisation in hospitals, says the report’s author, healthcare research analyst, Axel Baccari.
The European medical image management market is going through a phase of evolution. The focus seems to be shifting toward communication and clinical involvement since the picture archiving and communication system (PACS) is now considered the way radiology is practised.
“The next few years will see a very substantial rise in the number of PACS installations as a result of the factors driving the market. The use of PACS in combination with web technology is certainly among the factors that have allowed this technology to be available to mainstream hospitals. The PACS market is going through the growth stage of its life cycle; therefore, we find several issues that are influencing the market. Technological trends and their potential impact are among the factors that are gaining a lot of interest in the market”, says Baccari.
“The general uncertainty regarding the standards, the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) initiative that promotes integration of the PACS with radiology information systems (RIS) and hospital information systems (HIS), the impact of devices like computed tomography and computed radiology, the increasing influence of IT in healthcare and the future objective of achieving a fully digital hospital are all among the factors that are or will be playing a key role in the European medical image management market,” he adds.
The phenomenal growth is attributed to the levels of efficiency that PACS offers, the consequent savings that promote PACS installations and the presence of a large untapped market. In addition, the integration with RIS and HIS supports the idea of a Â’digitalÂ’ hospital. Other factors that drive the acceptance of PACS solutions are the ongoing development of the DICOM standard, the decreased hardware costs and the availability of advanced software.
However, the slow decision-making process and the low level of investments in hospitals in relation to the costs, inhibits market growth.
The market is dominated by large multinationals that have product offerings in both the PACS and the teleradiology segments. Market concentration equals 67 percent, in a market which has experienced considerable evolution in recent years and has more than 28 participants. The principal companies in the European market are Agfa, Kodak, GE Medical Systems, Siemens and Philips.
“Market players have to face important challenges that are set to change the competitive structure and the market shares over the forecast period. They are working in order to find strategies that can guarantee long-term success. The various competitive factors will play a key role, since the market will move forward in its life cycle”, Baccari says.
Frost & Sullivan recognises outstanding industry achievements by presenting market engineering awards to top companies in a variety of regional and global markets. The 2001 Market Engineering Award for Growth Strategy is given to Agfa. The 2001 Market Engineering Award for Product Quality Leadership is given to Sectra Medical Systems.
Report Code: 3840
Publication: January 2002
Frost & Sullivan will hold a conference call at 4pm (GMT) and 5pm (CET) on January 31, 2002, to provide manufacturers, end-users and other industry participants an overview of the challenges being faced by the medical image management market. Those interested in participating in the call should send an email to Nikki Cole at nikki. cole@frost. com with the following information for registration:
Full name, company name, title, contact telephone number, contact fax number, and email address. Upon receipt of the above information, details of how to participate in the live briefing will be emailed to you.
Background
Frost & Sullivan is an international marketing consulting company that monitors a comprehensive spectrum of markets for trends, market measurements and strategies. This on-going research is utilised to complement a series of research publications to support industry participants with customised consulting needs. Interviews and free executive summaries are available to the press.
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